I have noticed some play in the steering wheel that didn't used to be there. I think it is in the steering coupler under the gas tank. I am in the process of replacing my gas tank and the old one is removed. How much of the steering linkage must be removed to check this coupler? Big job? Will the steering rack have to come off?

You don't need to remove the steering rack. Just unbolt the plate above the coupler and push the boot up. Then remove the coupler bolts and push the rod up. Slide the old coupler out, and slide the new one in.

Or you could do like one of our brethren north of the border did, and replace the coupler with a hockey puck.

If you still have the plastic cover over the coupler, there really isn't any way to check this with the tank out.

I'm pretty sure you need to drop the whole steering rack out the bottom to get a good look at the coupler.

Are you sure the cover slides up enough to get access to the coupler?

If i remember correctly, on my car there wasn't enough movement in the cover, even with the clamp removed ...

I was able to get it to move upward enough. Maybe it is different on every car..

Dropping steering rack is way too much trouble. I just got a sharp knife and split the steering coupler cover (it is plastic) and when I replaced it back I just tape it up. No body is going to see the cover.


Got new coupler from Tangerine Racing; http://www.tangerineracing.com/otherproducts.htm

Think I assembled my entire unit and the plastic bellows was waving to me from the workbench

So i slit it and put two zip ties lightly around the ribs.

Well, it ain't the effin' coupler. It's in great shape. It goes up on the lift to check underneath.

rack clunk

At some point I replaced the coupler, the two u-joints in the interior, the steering shaft bushings, and finally rebuilt the rack.

The rack ended up with a notch in the pinion gear....just at the middle so there was a loose area when the car was going straight.

I cannot remember exactly what I did but I recall when I figured this out, I removed the pinion gear and flipped it over so that worn part was now in the opposite location when the car was going straight...

That and I made new custom bronze bushings for the ends of the rack body because those were all worn out.

rich

I tore down several racks and found more had bad inner tie rod ends than bad couplers.
The rubber in the tie rod ends gets soft and pounded out.

The outer tie ends are available for about $ 64 each last time I checked. I did not find any racks that had internal play.

If you are running turbo tie rods your tie rods are probably not the problem.

If the problem is internal to the rack you can have a good used one for $ 16 shipping cost.

I guess I lucked out. I crawled under the dash (No easy feat these days) and found the upper clamp on the "U" joint was finger loose. Tightened it up and fixed the problem. Too bad it's not always that easy.

So how many neighbor's did it take to pull your old ass out from under the dash once you finished?

My steering wheel has a quick release, so it was easier than usually.